[pk_hat]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by JMS40:
Hi PK-
I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on what bothers you about normalizing an entire mix as a final step before burning.
While I've been recording for some 30 years now, it's only been the past 4 or 5 years that I've been transfering my gray (grey) matter to digital techniques. Normalizing the final mix was suggested to me by a friend in a prominant post production house and I've been under the impression (false?) that it was common practice at that level.
In essence, you are taking the hottest signal in the track and moving it up to 0db (norm set to 100%) with all else following in scale. Just wondering why that would be a bad thing. Always willing to learn. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Thanks<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Hey, no problem...

Again, let me just make it clear that this is purely an opinion based on what works best for me, and not the way 'it should be done', necessarily.

Although 'normalizing' would seeem nothing short of common practice, given what it sets out to do, the option sits somewhere within a grey area when it comes to whether or not one should process an entire mix with it. Some engineers apply it while others may go into convulsions at the mere mention of it.

My reasons begin with the idea that a good mix should already have a great sense of balance and volume. If you read some of the previous threads on mixing mehtods, you'll notice most people favor the ubiquitous 'drums and bass first' method.
When you're done mixing the song, prior to compression and final eq on the mix, you should - ideally - have your master fader's level boppin' at around -6db, give or take a few.

While normalizing will raise that overall level, it will also raise any noisefloor present in the tracks.
Furhtermore, by peaking at precisely 0db, you may encounter problems if you decide to later take the mix to a professional mastering facility, disabling the engineer to add any of his own magic, due to the choked headroom.

I think the most important thing (yes, again) is the final mix itself. Try to get it perfect, then bring it back into a new session. Add your C4 (don't get carried away or you'll suck the life out of the music, less is definitely more here). You'll quickly notice how your mix already has more dynamics and sounds a bit tighter.
Then all you want to do is boost the output while retaining all the character the multiband compressor and final eq have added to your song.
Normalizing will 'seem' to do the trick, but I would give this method a try, this way you can compare the difference yourself. Only you can be the true judge as to whether the C4+L1 vs. Normalise method works best for you.

pk

p.s. If you don't have access to Waves plugs, there are alternate ways, Digi's Limiter, or simply import your .wav mix into T-Racks24, which also sounds gorgeous.